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I've
always loved the ocean&mdash;I was born in Shanghai, which
means "upon the sea.&rdquo; And as a chef, I'm always drawn to food
that claims a spirit of place. After moving to California, near Half
Moon Bay, I began visiting the docks to buy seafood, and got to know
the fishermen.<br>
<br>
Over time, it became evident to me that this part of our food supply is
broken: many consumers purchase stale, unsustainably-raised fish from
chain grocers. Meanwhile, fishermen often sell their diminishing catch
to wholesalers at a very low profit, meaning their livelihoods are no
longer sustained by their catch. There&rsquo;s also the
environmental factor to consider: Overfishing and illegal practices
cause worldwide decline in ocean wildlife populations and wreak havoc
on underwater habitats&mdash;not to mention the carbon footprint of
transporting seafood far from its origin.<br>
<br>
Google&rsquo;s chefs have long been committed to sourcing food for
our cafes as locally, seasonally and organically as possible. And in
our Mountain View headquarters, many employees cook with the same
ingredients at home thanks to on-site Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) programs. When I joined the team as an executive chef in Mountain
View, I wanted to make a difference in our purchasing program for
seafood. For the five years leading up to then, I wrote a column for
the San Francisco Chronicle called &ldquo;Seafood by the
Season,&rdquo; and I knew it could be done. In early 2010, we began
a push to apply the most rigorous standards to our seafood-buying
practices, and respond to the in-the-moment fluctuations of the catch
from small, independent fishermen.<br>
<br>
Things took off from there. My colleague Quentin Topping dreamed of
providing the same high-quality seafood we serve in our cafes for
Googlers to take home to their families. That idea became the Google
Community Supported Fishery (CSF), which we launched in May 2011. In
this program, Googlers sign up to purchase a weekly supply of local,
sustainable seafood, supplied through a partnership with the Half Moon
Bay (HMB) Fisherman&rsquo;s Association.<br>
<br>
<br>
The Google Culinary team on a visit with fishermen in Half Moon Bay,
Calif.&mdash;Quentin and I are the second and third from the left,
in black.<br>
<br>
We tend to think on a massive scale at Google&mdash;whether
it&rsquo;s how to deliver instant search results around the globe
or help thousands of small businesses get online&mdash;but when it
comes to feeding our employees at work and at home, it really comes
down to a local touch. Knowing where our seafood, meat and produce come
from, as well as knowing how they&rsquo;re raised, farmed or
harvested, makes all the difference in the on-the-ground work of
sustainability. We see many bright spots ahead for our Community
Supported Agriculture and Fishery programs, such as expansion to other
offices and adding a grass-fed beef and pasture-raised poultry program.
It&rsquo;s exciting to work someplace where we can think big and
local.<br>
<br>
We know of two CSFs in the Bay Area. The Half Moon Bay
Fishermen&rsquo;s Association supplies only Google at the moment,
but will soon add public drop-off sites&mdash;keep posted by
visiting Farmigo.com. The other is CSea out of Bodega Bay. If you live
elsewhere, we hope you&rsquo;ll consider stepping up to create one
in your area.<br>
<br>
And even if you don&rsquo;t live near the ocean or have direct
access to fresh-caught seafood, the choices you make about what fish to
purchase or order in restaurants can make a real difference. You may
want to consider following the guidelines that we used for our Google
Green Seafood policy: Whenever possible, purchase species caught
locally and in-season, by small, independent fisher-families, using
environmentally-responsible methods. We think it&rsquo;s important
to be responsive to the fluctuations of catch too, and source from
fisheries that enforce catch limits or are guided by ecosystem-based
management programs. As for us, we&rsquo;ll continue to research
and source responsibly managed farmed seafood, and always keep
transparency and Googler health at the center of our program.&nbsp;
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